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Ehud Barak "retires" as Israel military chief

By Jodi RudorenThe New York Times

Posted:
11/27/2012 12:01:00 AM MST

Updated:
11/27/2012 12:30:24 AM MST

TEL AVIV — Ehud Barak, who over a half-century career became Israel's most decorated soldier and held the nation's trifecta of top positions — chief of staff of the military, prime minister and, since 2007, defense minister — announced Monday that he would soon "leave political life," withdrawing from elections scheduled for Jan. 22.

"I came to this decision not without qualms but, in the end, with a whole heart," Barak, 70, said. "I feel I have exhausted the political vocation. Change in positions of power is a good thing."

Barak could yet be appointed to another term as defense minister. But his withdrawal from the campaign, coming on the heels of an eight-day air blitz on the Gaza Strip and eight weeks before Israeli elections, highlighted the disarray in Israel's center-left bloc, where political operatives have been scrambling to organize a credible challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Despite his role as defense minister and the widespread belief that he was the architect of Israel's Iran policy, Barak was seen as one of the least hawkish figures in Netaynahu's Cabinet.

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"We have Netanyahu losing Barak — one of the most moderate influences in his inner circle — on the same day that he loses part of his party to the far-right wing. ... Basically, it doesn't look good for those who were hoping for a more tempered Israeli policy," said a senior Likud political adviser who spoke to McClatchy Newspapers on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

After weeks of deliberation, two other former prime ministers — Ehud Olmert, who has spent recent years battling corruption charges; and 89-year-old Shimon Peres, now in the largely symbolic role of president — have both apparently decided against making comeback bids.

Still, analysts predicted that Israel's most prominent warrior-statesman of his generation had yet to say the last word and was perhaps still angling to keep his job after the election as a special appointment of Netanyahu, who is expected to be re-elected. In recent polls, Barak's Independence party had been struggling to nudge above the electoral threshold needed to get into parliament.

"In his position, he did the smartest thing one could do," said Shlomo Avineri, a political-science professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. "He's not as popular as an electoral candidate as he is a minister of defense. He's not going to say no if he's asked to be the next minister of defense. And he probably will."

Barak was Netanyahu's commander in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit in the 1970s. Last year, Barak left the Labor Party and created his own Independence faction, which has failed to gain traction with voters.

McClatchy Newspapers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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